3 Michael Stapelberg <michael+i3@stapelberg.de>
8 i3 - an improved dynamic, tiling window manager
12 i3 [-c configfile] [-a]
17 Specifies an alternate configuration file path
26 i3 was created because wmii, our favorite window manager at the time, didn’t
27 provide some features we wanted (Xinerama done right, for example), had some
28 bugs, didn’t progress since quite some time and wasn’t easy to hack at all
29 (source code comments/documentation completely lacking). Still, we think the
30 wmii developers and contributors did a great job. Thank you for inspiring us to
33 Please be aware that i3 is primarily targeted at advanced users and developers.
38 A client is X11-speak for a window.
41 Your workspace is managed using a table. You can move windows around and create new columns
42 (move a client to the right) or rows (move it to the bottom) implicitly.
44 By "snapping" a client in a specific direction, you increase its colspan/rowspan.
47 A container contains a variable number of clients. Each cell of the table is a container.
49 Containers can be used in various modes. The default mode is called "default" and just
50 resizes each client equally so that it fits.
53 A workspace is a set of clients (technically speaking, it’s just a table). Other window
54 managers call this "Virtual Desktops".
56 In i3, each workspace is assigned to a specific virtual screen. By default, screen 1
57 has workspace 1, screen 2 has workspace 2 and so on… However, when you create a new
58 workspace (by simply switching to it), it’ll be assigned the screen you are currently
62 Using Xinerama, you can have an X11 screen spanning multiple real monitors. Furthermore,
63 you can set them up in cloning mode or with positions (monitor 1 is left of monitor 2).
65 A virtual screen is the result of your Xinerama setup. For example, if you have attached
66 two real monitors (let’s say your laptop screen and a video projector) and enabled cloning, i3
67 will use one virtual screen with the size of the smallest screen you have attached (so
68 that you can see all your windows on each screen all the time).
69 If you have two monitors attached, one configured to be left of the other, i3 will use
74 Here is a short overview of the default keybindings:
77 Direction keys (left, down, up, right). They are on your homerow (see the mark on your "j" key).
80 Focus window in <direction>.
83 Focus container in <direction>.
85 Mod1+Shift+<direction>::
86 Move window to <direction>.
88 Mod3+Shift+<direction>::
89 Move container to <direction>.
91 Mod1+Control+<direction>::
92 Snap container to <direction>.
95 Switch to workspace <number>.
98 Move window to workspace <number>.
101 Toggle fullscreen mode.
104 Enable stacking layout for the current container.
107 Enable default layout for the current container.
110 Toggle tiling/floating for the current window.
113 Select the first tiling window if the current window is floating and vice-versa.
116 Kills the current client.
119 Restarts i3 in place (without losing any windows, but the layout).
128 When starting, i3 looks for ~/.i3/config and loads the configuration. If ~/.i3/config is not found,
129 i3 tries /etc/i3/config. You can specify a custom path using the -c option.
131 At the moment, you can specify only the path to your favorite terminal emulator, the font and keybindings.
133 At the moment, you have to bind to keycodes (find them out via xev(1)).
135 .Sample configuration
136 -------------------------------------------------------------
137 terminal /usr/bin/urxvt
138 font -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--13-120-75-75-C-70-iso10646-1
140 # Start terminal (Mod1+Enter)
141 bind Mod1+36 exec /usr/bin/urxvt
143 # Start dmenu (Mod1+v)
144 bind Mod1+55 exec /usr/bin/dmenu_run
146 # Kill current client (Mod1+Shift+q)
147 bind Mod1+Shift+24 kill
150 bind Mod1+73 exec /home/michael/toggle_beamer.sh
153 bind Mod1+68 exec /usr/bin/i3lock
155 # Restart i3 inplace (Mod1+Shift+r)
156 bind Mod1+Shift+27 restart
158 # Exit i3 (Mod1+Shift+e)
159 bind Mod1+Shift+26 exit
162 bind Mod1+97 exec sudo sh -c "echo up > /proc/acpi/ibm/brightness"
163 bind Mod1+103 exec sudo sh -c "echo down > /proc/acpi/ibm/brightness"
165 # Fullscreen (Mod1+f)
174 # Toggle tiling/floating of the current window (Mod1+Shift+Space)
177 # Go into the tiling layer / floating layer, depending on whether
178 # the current window is tiling / floating (Mod1+t)
179 bind Mod1+28 focus ft
181 # Focus (Mod1+j/k/l/;)
187 # Focus Container (Mod3+j/k/l/;)
193 # Snap (Mod1+Control+j/k/l/;)
194 bind Mod1+Control+44 sh
195 bind Mod1+Control+45 sj
196 bind Mod1+Control+46 sk
197 bind Mod1+Control+47 sl
199 # Move (Mod1+Shift+j/k/l/;)
200 bind Mod1+Shift+44 mh
201 bind Mod1+Shift+45 mj
202 bind Mod1+Shift+46 mk
203 bind Mod1+Shift+47 ml
205 # Move Container (Mod3+Shift+j/k/l/;)
206 bind Mod3+Shift+44 wcmh
207 bind Mod3+Shift+45 wcmj
208 bind Mod3+Shift+46 wcmk
209 bind Mod3+Shift+47 wcml
220 -------------------------------------------------------------
224 This file is where you should configure your locales and start i3. It is run by
225 your login manager (xdm, slim, gdm, …) as soon as you login.
228 -------------------------------------------------------------
229 # Disable DPMS turning off the screen
235 # Enforce correct locales from the beginning
237 export LC_CTYPE=de_DE.UTF-8
238 export LC_TIME=de_DE.UTF-8
239 export LC_NUMERIC=de_DE.UTF-8
240 export LC_MONETARY=de_DE.UTF-8
242 export LC_PAPER=de_DE.UTF-8
243 export LC_NAME=de_DE.UTF-8
244 export LC_ADDRESS=de_DE.UTF-8
245 export LC_TELEPHONE=de_DE.UTF-8
246 export LC_MEASUREMENT=de_DE.UTF-8
247 export LC_IDENTIFICATION=de_DE.UTF-8
249 # Enable core dumps in case something goes wrong
252 # Start i3 and log to ~/.i3/logfile
253 echo "Starting at $(date)" >> ~/.i3/logfile
254 exec /usr/bin/i3 >> ~/.i3/logfile
255 -------------------------------------------------------------
259 There is still lot of work to do. Please check our bugtracker for up-to-date information
260 about tasks which are still not finished.
264 Michael Stapelberg and contributors